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Between Qur'an And Crown: The Challenge Of Political Legitimacy In The Arab World
by Tamara SonnThe struggle for political legitimacy in many Middle Eastern countries today poses a dilemma for ruling elites. In order to maintain authority, leaders often must capitulate to Islamic universalist dogma, which may conflict with their own views of the state as well as threaten the legitimacy of other leaders in the region who are attempting to establish a secular, national basis for government. Tracing the roots of this dilemma in Middle Eastern history and Islamic philosophy, Dr. Sonn compares the contemporary Middle Eastern period to Europe’s “Age of Religious Wars†that preceded the emergence of the Western secular state. She describes how a process similar to the organic development of the secular state in Europe was interrupted in the Middle East by oppressive Western colonialism, which eventually led to the Muslim rejection of nationalism and all things “Western†and to the reassertion of Islam as the sole source of political legitimacy. The author shows how the philosophy of Islamic traditionalism opposes the two fundamentals of stable national political systems—a geographical limitation of authority and an institutionalized process for regular changes in leadership. Dr. Sonn bases her argument on an insightful examination of Middle Eastern history, from the formation and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century to the present, and caps it with a detailed look at a possible solution to the dilemma: the teachings of modern scholars who advocate a new “Islamic realism†incorporating a limited definition of national identity and interests while retaining Islamic social goals.
Between Rabin and Arafat: A Political Diary Behind the Oslo Deal, 1993–1994
by Jacques NeriahThis book shares first-hand insights into the implementation of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, written by a high-ranking Israeli military intelligence officer and former foreign policy advisor to Israel’s fifth prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. It offers a diary of the political events surrounding the Israeli prime minister in 1993–1994, focusing on a key turning point in the Israeli-Arab conflict – those crucial days when Rabin had to choose between promoting a peace process with the Palestinians or trying to strike a deal with the Syrians and waiting for the Jordanians to join. The book sheds new light on Rabin’s attitudes towards the Palestinians, on his meetings with Yasser Arafat, and on what went on behind the scenes of the official diplomatic negotiations. Readers will learn about the power struggles and ego-driven rivalries between Israeli politicians and high-ranking generals, about the relationship between politicians and the media, and about problems such as the leaking of sensitive information to the press. This book will be of interest not only to scholars, but also and more importantly to policymakers around the world, and to anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and finding a two-state solution in the region.“A vital and extremely well-written book, not only for the academia, but above all for the decision makers across the globe, West and East, North and South, in fact anyone who talks about a two-state solution in the region". Arno Tausch, Professor of Political Science, Innsbruck University, Austria
Between Race and Reason: Violence, Intellectual Responsibility, and the University to Come
by Susan Searls GirouxInquiring into the future of the university, Susan Giroux finds a paradox at the heart of higher education in the post-civil rights era. Although we think of "post-civil rights" as representing a colorblind or race transcendent triumphalism in national political discourse, Giroux argues that our present is shaped by persistent "raceless" racism at home and permanent civilizational war abroad. She sees the university as a primary battleground in this ongoing struggle. As the heir to Enlightenment ideals of civic education, the university should be the institution for the production of an informed and reflective democratic citizenry responsible to and for the civic health of the polity, a privileged site committed to free and equal exchange in the interests of peaceful and democratic coexistence. And yet, says Giroux, historically and currently the university has failed and continues to fail in this role. Between Race and Reason engages the work of diverse intellectuals—Friedrich Nietzsche, W. E. B. Du Bois, Michel Foucault, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jacques Derrida and others—who challenge the university's past and present collusion with racism and violence. The book complements recent work done on the politics of higher education that has examined the consequences of university corporatization, militarization, and bureaucratic rationalization by focusing on the ways in which these elements of a broader neoliberal project are also racially prompted and promoted. At the same time, it undertakes to imagine how the university can be reconceived as a uniquely privileged site for critique in the interests of today's urgent imperatives for peace and justice.
Between Realism and Revolt: Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism
by Jonathan DaviesLeading governance theorist Jonathan S. Davies develops a rich comparative analysis of austerity governance and resistance in eight cities, to establish a conjunctural perspective on the rolling crises of neoliberal globalism. Drawing on a major international study of eight cities, Davies employs Gramscian regime analysis to consider the consolidation, weakening and transformation of urban governance regimes through the age of austerity. He explores how urban governance shapes variations in austere neoliberalism, tackling themes including collaboration, dominance, resistance and counter-hegemony. The book is a significant addition to thinking about how the era of austerity politics influences urban governance today, and the potential for alternative urban futures.
Between Realism and Revolt: Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism
by Jonathan DaviesLeading governance theorist Jonathan S. Davies develops a rich comparative analysis of austerity governance and resistance in eight cities, to establish a conjunctural perspective on the rolling crises of neoliberal globalism. Drawing on a major international study of eight cities, Davies employs Gramscian regime analysis to consider the consolidation, weakening and transformation of urban governance regimes through the age of austerity. He explores how urban governance shapes variations in austere neoliberalism, tackling themes including collaboration, dominance, resistance and counter-hegemony. The book is a significant addition to thinking about how the era of austerity politics influences urban governance today, and the potential for alternative urban futures.
Between Reform and Revolution: German Socialism and Communism from 1840 to 1990
by David E. Barclay Eric D. WeitzThe powerful impact of Socialism and Communism on modern German history is the theme which is explored by the contributors to this volume. Whereas previous investigations have tended to focus on political, intellectual and biographical aspects, this book captures, for the first time, the methodological and thematic diversity and richness of current work on the history of the German working class and the political movements that emerged from it. Based on original contributions from U.S., British, and German scholars, this collection address a wide range of themes and problems.
Between Republic and Market: Globalization and Identity in Contemporary France
by Sarah WatersThe rise of neo-liberal globalisation has posed major challenges for all European countries, identifying itself as the key political tension of the coming era. Yet, it is in France that globalisation has produced the deepest tensions, and it is here that it has generated its greatest political resistance. The author pursues two separate lines of enquiry. First, she considers the influence of French political tradition and an enduring legacy of republicanism in shaping contemporary opposition. If globalisation poses a greater ideological threat in France than elsewhere, this is because it comes into conflict with the foundational values and symbols of the FrenchRepublic. Secondly, she examines contemporary French opposition as a site for political and ideological renewal. Many critics now agree that it is within this emergent movement, rather than within traditional parties, that new forms of political practice and ideology are being invented.
Between Republic and Market: Globalization and Identity in Contemporary France
by Sarah WatersThe rise of neo-liberal globalisation has posed major challenges for all European countries, identifying itself as the key political tension of the coming era. Yet, it is in France that globalisation has produced the deepest tensions, and it is here that it has generated its greatest political resistance. The author pursues two separate lines of enquiry. First, she considers the influence of French political tradition and an enduring legacy of republicanism in shaping contemporary opposition. If globalisation poses a greater ideological threat in France than elsewhere, this is because it comes into conflict with the foundational values and symbols of the FrenchRepublic. Secondly, she examines contemporary French opposition as a site for political and ideological renewal. Many critics now agree that it is within this emergent movement, rather than within traditional parties, that new forms of political practice and ideology are being invented.
Between Samaritans and States: The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs
by Jennifer RubensteinThis book provides the first book-length, English-language account of the political ethics of large-scale, Western-based humanitarian INGOs, such as Oxfam, CARE, and Doctors Without Borders. These INGOs are often either celebrated as heroes or do-going machines or maligned as incompetents 'on the road to hell'. In contrast, this book suggests the picture is more complicated. Drawing on political theory, philosophy, and ethics, along with original fieldwork, this book shows that while humanitarian INGOs are often perceived as non-governmental and apolitical, they are in fact sometimes somewhat governmental, highly political, and often 'second-best' actors. As a result, they face four central ethical predicaments: the problem of spattered hands, the quandary of the second-best, the cost-effectiveness conundrum, and the moral motivation trade-off. This book considers what it would look like for INGOs to navigate these predicaments in ways that are as consistent as possible with democratic, egalitarian, humanitarian and justice-based norms. It argues that humanitarian INGOs must regularly make deep moral compromises. In choosing which compromises to make, they should focus primarily on their overall consequences, as opposed to their intentions or the intrinsic value of their activities. But they should interpret consequences expansively, and not limit themselves to those that are amenable to precise measurements of cost-effectiveness. The book concludes by explaining the implications of its 'map' of humanitarian INGO political ethics for individual donors to INGOs, and for how we all should conceive of INGOs' role in addressing pressing global problems.
Between Sovereignty and Global Governance?: The United Nations and World Politics
by Albert J. Paolini Christian Reus-Smit Anthony P. JarvisThis book explores the nature and problems of global governance as we enter the next millennium. It focuses on the United Nations, the most ambitious experiment to date in multilateral management of world society. Leading scholars, policy-makers, and representatives of non-governmental organizations examine the economic, security, and civil political dimensions of governance, exploring the impact of changing global conditions on national, regional, and international institutions and processes of governance. They use the experience of the United Nations system to illuminate the nature and viability of sovereign and non-sovereign forms of governance in an era of rapid political, economic, cultural, strategic, and ecological change.
Between Specters of War and Visions of Peace: Dialogic Political Theory and the Challenges of Politics
by Gerald M. MaraSince the beginning of the twenty-first century, recurring political violence at both state and non-state levels has eroded confidence in the progressively peaceful character of international relations, and has unsettled the parameters of political thought. Frames of peace and frames of war have, throughout Western thought, colored the questions that we ask about politics, the descriptions of the pragmatic and moral alternatives that we face, and the ideas and metaphors that we use at any given moment. These frames, as this book argues, also obscure too much of political life. Gerald M. Mara proposes, instead, a political philosophy that takes both war and peace seriously, and a style of theory committed to questioning rather than closure. He challenges two powerful currents in contemporary political philosophy: the verdict that "premodern" or "metaphysical" texts cannot speak to modern and postmodern societies and the insistence that all forms of political theory be some form of democratic theory. Mara reexamines seminal texts in the history of political theory, from Thucydides to Jacques Derrida, and from Machiavelli to Judith Butler, to examine how frames of reference of war and peace have structured both the writing of these texts, as well as interpretations of them. The result is not a linear history of ideas, but a series of conversations between them, and a democratic justification for moving beyond democratic theory.
Between Specters of War and Visions of Peace: Dialogic Political Theory and the Challenges of Politics
by Gerald M. MaraSince the beginning of the twenty-first century, recurring political violence at both state and non-state levels has eroded confidence in the progressively peaceful character of international relations, and has unsettled the parameters of political thought. Frames of peace and frames of war have, throughout Western thought, colored the questions that we ask about politics, the descriptions of the pragmatic and moral alternatives that we face, and the ideas and metaphors that we use at any given moment. These frames, as this book argues, also obscure too much of political life. Gerald M. Mara proposes, instead, a political philosophy that takes both war and peace seriously, and a style of theory committed to questioning rather than closure. He challenges two powerful currents in contemporary political philosophy: the verdict that "premodern" or "metaphysical" texts cannot speak to modern and postmodern societies and the insistence that all forms of political theory be some form of democratic theory. Mara reexamines seminal texts in the history of political theory, from Thucydides to Jacques Derrida, and from Machiavelli to Judith Butler, to examine how frames of reference of war and peace have structured both the writing of these texts, as well as interpretations of them. The result is not a linear history of ideas, but a series of conversations between them, and a democratic justification for moving beyond democratic theory.
Between State and Nation: Diaspora Politics and Kin-state Nationalism in Hungary
by M. WaterburyBased on a qualitative study of Hungary and its changing relationship to the 3 million ethnic Hungarians in neighbouring states, this book argues that it is not the ties of ethnicity, but the political interests of kin-state elites that drives states in Eastern Europe to take action on behalf of ethnic kin in neighboring states.
Between State and Non-State: Politics and Society in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine
by Gülistan Gürbey Sabine Hofmann Ferhad Ibrahim SeyderThis edited volume compares the internal dimension, politics and society in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine. In particular, it focuses on internal processes in Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine (Palestinian Territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip) in their specific shaping, development and transformation. The contributing authors analyze the transformation processes of the internal power structures, the economic basics, and the civil societies and provide an overview of the current political, economic and societal situation and challenges in both regions. The book presents the similarities and differences between both de facto states with regard to a set of guidelines: legitimacy, power relations, transformation of politics and society. It provides empirical explanations and contributes to a better understanding of both de facto states.
Between Struggle And Hope: The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade
by Valerie MillerIn July 1979, Nicaragua began a process of profound structural transformation to redistribute power and wealth in order to redress past societal inequities. This book critically examines the planning and implementation of one of the first programs of national transformation-the Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade, an educational effort directly involving almost one-fourth of the country's population. International experts praised the program as an exemplary model for national development and unanimously chose the campaign to receive grand prize in literacy. A vivid combination of anecdote and analysis, Between Struggle and Hope is a study of policymaking and institution building within a revolutionary society. Written by an international adviser to the program, the book provides an insider's look at educational planning and political formation. A critique, it combines the human story of the struggle to create the literacy campaign with a detailed evaluation of program results, both positive and negative. Unique in the literature, it allows the reader to follow firsthand the behind-the-scenes development of an educational campaign designed as part of a national plan of structural transformation and to share the personal concerns, criticisms, and analysis of the program planners. Between Struggle and Hope offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of political change through education and to probe the internal dynamics of revolution.
Between Struggle And Hope: The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade
by Valerie MillerIn July 1979, Nicaragua began a process of profound structural transformation to redistribute power and wealth in order to redress past societal inequities. This book critically examines the planning and implementation of one of the first programs of national transformation-the Nicaraguan National Literacy Crusade, an educational effort directly involving almost one-fourth of the country's population. International experts praised the program as an exemplary model for national development and unanimously chose the campaign to receive grand prize in literacy. A vivid combination of anecdote and analysis, Between Struggle and Hope is a study of policymaking and institution building within a revolutionary society. Written by an international adviser to the program, the book provides an insider's look at educational planning and political formation. A critique, it combines the human story of the struggle to create the literacy campaign with a detailed evaluation of program results, both positive and negative. Unique in the literature, it allows the reader to follow firsthand the behind-the-scenes development of an educational campaign designed as part of a national plan of structural transformation and to share the personal concerns, criticisms, and analysis of the program planners. Between Struggle and Hope offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of political change through education and to probe the internal dynamics of revolution.
Between Tel Aviv and Moscow: A Life of Dissent and Exile in Mandate Palestine and the Soviet Union
by Leah Trachtman-PalchanLeah Trachtman-Palchan was an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life. This was a life of migration, dissent, exile and survival. Born in the final years of Tsarist Russia, her family was forced to leave their small town following the repeated pogroms of the Civil War era. A two year voyage followed, bringing them all to British Mandate Palestine in 1921. Here what seems like a typical Jewish story of migration from Eastern Europe in the early twentieth century took an unexpected turn. As a teenager, Leah joined the Communist movement in Palestine – illegal under the British Mandate. She was arrested, imprisoned and eventually deported by the British to the Soviet Union. This memoir is filled with colourful, and sometimes harrowing, sketches of the people who passed through her life during the era of Stalin's Great Purges and the evacuation of factories to Siberia during World War II. Shedding new light on both Mandate Palestine and the Jewish experience in Soviet Moscow, this book reveals the remarkable story of a woman living through some of the most pivotal events of twentieth-century history.
Between the Avant-garde and the Everyday: Subversive Politics in Europe from 1957 to the Present (Protest, Culture & Society #6)
by Timothy Brown Lorena AntonThe wave of anti-authoritarian political activity associated with the term “1968” can by no means be confined under the rubric of “protest,” understood narrowly in terms of street marches and other reactions to state initiatives. Indeed, the actions generated in response to “1968” frequently involved attempts to elaborate resistance within the realm of culture generally, and in the arts in particular. This blurring of the boundary between art and politics was a characteristic development of the political activism of the postwar period. This volume brings together a group of essays concerned with the multifaceted link between culture and politics, highlighting lesser-known case studies and opening new perspectives on the development of anti-authoritarian politics in Europe from the 1950s to the fall of Communism and beyond.
Between the Crashes: Reflections and insights on UK politics and global economics in the aftermath of the financial crisis
by Mark FieldCity of London MP Mark Field had a ringside seat in 2008 as the global financial system was sucked into a spiral of crisis. With one foot in the Westminster Village and the other in his central London constituency, Field had access to a unique mix of politicians, financiers and business people in the feverish months and years that followed. A collection of his short contemporary essays and speeches from 2007 to 2012, Between the Crashes provides a timeline of the financial crisis, its aftermath and the ensuing travails of the eurozone as well as an account of the challenges facing the Brown and coalition governments. In doing so, Between the Crashes pulls together some of the overarching themes set to define the early part of the twenty-first century - the shift of power eastwards, generational division, disillusionment with capitalism and the political class and, most of all, the impact of colossal Western debt. In providing robust analysis of the UK's problems, Mark Field puts forward some practical solutions for the future, challenging the political class at a time of stagnant growth in the British economy. And as its title suggests, Between the Crashes finally asks ... is there more to come?
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The mission to rescue the hostages the world forgot
by Colin FreemanThe true story of a retired British army officer’s private Somali-hostage rescue mission During the peak of the Somali piracy crisis, three ships – from Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan – were hijacked and then abandoned to their fate by their employers, who lacked the money to pay ransoms. All would still be there, were it not for Colonel John Steed, a retired British military attaché, who launched his own private mission to free them. At 65, Colonel Steed was hardly an ideal saviour. With no experience in hostage negotiations and no money behind him, he had to raise the ransom cash from scratch, running the operation from his spare room and ferrying million-dollar ransom payments around in the boot of his car. Drawing on first-hand interviews, former chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph, Colin Freeman, who has himself spent time held hostage by Somali pirates, takes readers on an inside track into the world of hostage negotiation and one man’s heroic rescue mission.
Between the Seas: Island Identities in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas (PDF)
by Deborah PaciIn Between The Seas, Deborah Paci takes a comparative view of insularity in island identities through case studies of islands in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. These case studies include, in the Baltic case, Gotland, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa; and in the Mediterranean case, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta and Corsica. Examining multiple sites of these islands' identities such as history, environmental concerns and governance systems, this study provides a historical perspective into the relations between islands and the larger geopolitical regions around them as well as historicizing “insularist” rhetoric deployed by pro-independence groups within them. Paci examines the changing role and increasing political importance of islands in the European Union against the history of island insularity and offers a significant contribution to the wider field of island studies.
Between the Seas: Island Identities in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas
by Deborah PaciIn Between The Seas, Deborah Paci takes a comparative view of insularity in island identities through case studies of islands in the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas. These case studies include, in the Baltic case, Gotland, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa; and in the Mediterranean case, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta and Corsica. Examining multiple sites of these islands' identities such as history, environmental concerns and governance systems, this study provides a historical perspective into the relations between islands and the larger geopolitical regions around them as well as historicizing “insularist” rhetoric deployed by pro-independence groups within them. Paci examines the changing role and increasing political importance of islands in the European Union against the history of island insularity and offers a significant contribution to the wider field of island studies.
Between Theory and Practice: Essays on Criticism and Crises of Democracy (Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century)
by Eerik Lagerspetz Oili PulkkinenIs it possible, in the complex modern world, to have a government ‘by the people’? Does, for example, digital technology help us to bring the reality closer to the ideal? Or does it actually make the ideal unattainable?The volume brings together conceptual historians, philosophers, political theorists and sociologists to discuss the criticisms and crises of democracy with fresh approaches to the idea of democracy, democratic theory, democratic institutions, trust and distrust, populism, and advancement of technologies in Western societies.
Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World
by Micah ZenkoWhen confronted with a persistent foreign policy problem that threatens U.S. interests, and that cannot be adequately addressed through economic or political pressure, American policymakers and opinion formers have increasingly resorted to recommending the use of limited military force: that is, enough force to attempt to resolve the problem while minimizing U.S. military deaths, local civilian casualties, and collateral damage. These recommendations have ranged from the bizarre—such as a Predator missile strike to kill Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, or the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez—to the unwise—the preemptive bombing of North Korean ballistic missile sites—to the demonstrably practical—air raids into Bosnia and Somalia, and drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan. However, even though they have been a regular feature of America's uses of military force through four successive administrations, the efficacy of these "Discrete Military Operations" (DMOs) remains largely unanalyzed, leaving unanswered the important question of whether or not they have succeeded in achieving their intended military and political objectives. In response, Micah Zenko examines the thirty-six DMOs undertaken by the US over the past 20 years, in order to discern why they were used, if they achieved their objectives, and what determined their success or failure. In the process, he both evaluates U.S. policy choices and recommends ways in which limited military force can be better used in the future. The insights and recommendations made by Zenko will be increasingly relevant to making decisions and predictions about the development of American grand strategy and future military policy.
Between Two Fires: Holding the Liberal Centre in South African Politics
by John Kane-BermanJohn Kane-Berman is uniquely qualified to look back over the enormous political and social changes that have taken place in his lifetime in this fractious country. In his career as student leader, Rhodes Scholar, newspaperman, independent columnist, commentator, and Chief Executive, for thirty years, of the South Africa Institute of Race Relations, Kane-Berman has been at the coal face of political change in South Africa.The breadth and depth of ideas and events covered in Between Two Fires are striking: the disintegration of apartheid, the chaos of the ‘people’s war’ and its contribution to the broader societal breakdown we see today, the liberal slideaway, the rise of an authoritarian ANC with its racial ideology and revolutionary goals, to mention only a few. It is a book of fizzing ideas.Kane-Berman’s willingness to confront received wisdom is thoroughly refreshing, and he is forthright about the threats to freedom, democracy, and growth in contemporary South Africa, many of which he identified even before the ANC came to power. He is equally forthright in putting forward liberal ideas to halt the country’s downward slide. Writing, debate, and reasoned argument are Kane-Berman’s stock in trade, and his clarity of vision and personal insight have created a memoir of rare candour and absorbing interest.